In the front of my e-mail box sits an invitation from the United States Basketball Writers, which feels more like a warning, to cast a ballot for the Oscar Robertson Trophy whenever I find the time BUT CERTAINLY BEFORE MARCH 10 AT 8 P.M.!!!!

OK, so the capital letters and exclamation points are mine, there to capture precisely how I feel.

The national player of the year race could be decided when Trey Burke's Wolverines take on Victor Oladipo's Hoosiers. (AP Photos)

In the back of my mind also is the knowledge Sporting News must determine its player of the year award equally soon. There aren’t quite as many cats to herd into voting, so we could fiddle with the time a bit, even tell everyone to make a call upon waking up Monday morning. That won’t really change the degree of difficulty in making a decision. It might just cause a little more lost sleep Sunday night.

Ordinarily, the choice is not so challenging as the end of the regular season approaches. Anthony Davis last year? As easy as deciding between a chocolate chip cookie and a plate of broccoli. J.J. Redick’s season, 2005-06, we practically had it called before Christmas.

We haven’t had a player of the year race this confounding since perhaps 2003, when it came down to the final weekend and Sporting News, choosing among Texas point guard T.J. Ford, Xavier forward David West and Syracuse forward Carmelo Anthony, went with Ford thanks in part to his tie-breaking dissection of a terrific Oklahoma team: 18 points, 10 assists, one turnover, a 76-71 UT road win.

This weekend could be just like that. The players still in the running (listed in alphabetical order):

TREY BURKE, MICHIGAN

Burke was the leader after the front nine and might have been kicking his feet up in the clubhouse were it not for the Wolverines’ February funk, which included a 3-4 record and a devastating loss to Penn State, previously winless in the Big Ten.

It is interesting to note Burke increased his scoring average to 21.6 points and 6.1 assists during that stretch, shot the same 49.5 percent he’s done all year and got an average of only three minutes rest per night. So the losses count against him, but everybody in this conversation lost games, and Burke more or less was the same brilliant player he’s been all year.

Burke has scored fewer than 15 points only three times this season, all comfortable wins. Even when faced with his own personal hunk of kryptonite—Ohio State defensive demon Aaron Craft—Burke managed to squeeze out 15 points and four assists in one of the Wolverines’ five defeats. In the rematch vs. Craft, he had 16 points, eight assists and a win.

Heisman moment: March 3, picking Michigan State’s Keith Appling clean for the game-winning dunk with 22 seconds left, then adding a game-clinching steal just before the buzzer.

Night to forget: Feb. 27, six turnovers in an 84-78 loss at Penn State.

VICTOR OLADIPO, INDIANA

It’s quite possible there never has been a player of the year candidate anything like Oladipo.

There have been few winners at this position to start with, only one in the past 10 years. And invariably a player who operates on the wings—at shooting guard or small forward—is required to be the sort of player who fills up the basket to be player of the year. Redick averaged 26.8 points in 2006. The last to win it before him, Duke’s Jay Williams, averaged 21.3. Before that, it was Indiana’s Calbert Cheaney, in 1993, and he was good for 22.4 points a night.

Oladipo has scored big against IU’s best opponents. He’s averaged 18 points against ranked teams. He is a versatile scorer, a player who will contribute with tip-dunks and drives as surely as he will on off-the-catch 3-pointers.

He has been a game-changing, game-breaking defender, perhaps more impactful at that end of the floor than any wing defender in recent years. We’ve seen some who maybe were better shutdown defenders—maybe—but no one else who could reverse the course of a possession with a steal or block with nearly the same emphasis.

Heisman moment: Feb. 19, snaking along the left baseline to tip-slam Yogi Ferrell’s errant layup with 47 seconds to play on the road at Michigan State, putting the Hoosiers ahead for good in a game that essentially earned them a share of the Big Ten title.

Night to forget: Tuesday, picking up two early fouls, playing just 25 minutes and committing four turnovers in a 67-58 home loss to No. 14 Ohio State, his only single-figure scoring game against a top-25 opponent.

OTTO PORTER, GEORGETOWN

His scoring average also seems a bit light, particularly for a player who is not a game-breaking defender like Oladipo. Here’s a little parlor trick, though: Factor out the game in which he was scoreless because he was injured just six minutes in. Right away, Porter’s scoring average jumps to 17.2 points. Seems a lot different, doesn’t it?

It’s even better if you factor only Big East games. Not that this is a conference player of the year award. It’s for the whole season. But his scoring average of 18.7 points against the kind of competition he faces nightly in conference is impressive.

And here’s perhaps the most impressive number of all. From Feb. 1 on, Porter played 284 minutes, attempted 97 shots, grabbed 59 rebounds and passed for 19 assists. That’s a lot of time on the court and a lot of time in possession of the ball. Porter committed only six turnovers in that stretch.

Heisman moment: Feb. 23. With 4:55 left in Georgetown’s final Big East visit to Syracuse, Porter broke open on the left wing, just in front of the Hoyas bench, and took a pass from teammate Jabril Trawick. As Porter released a 3-pointer, SU’s Brandon Triche closed recklessly and swiped him across the arm. The shot connected, a foul was called and that four-point play doubled the Hoyas’ lead to eight points. It never really was close after that. Porter ended with 33 of his team’s 57 points.

Night to forget: Jan. 8, shooting only 2-of-6 from the field and scoring nine points—despite playing 39 minutes—in a 73-45 loss to Pitt.

MARCUS SMART, OKLAHOMA STATE

Vital statistics: 14.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.9 steals, 40.5 percent from the field, 29.6 percent from 3-point range. It’s possible no player has had a greater impact on his steam this season than Smart. A year ago, when Smart was winning a second consecutive Texas state title with Flower Mound High School, Oklahoma State was lumbering to a 15-18 record.

So with the Cowboys at 22-6 now, they’ve executed a 9.5-game turnaround, as the NCAA computes these things -- seven more wins, a dozen fewer losses, divided by two. It’s not exactly what Towson accomplished, but it’s still remarkable and largely the result of Smart’s impact in terms of leadership and production.

Smart’s playmaking helped make athletic guard Markel Brown into the team’s leading scorer and a shooter who fires more often and makes a greater percentage (44.6 percent now, 42.6 percent last year) of his attempts. Forward LeBryan Nash shot 39.4 percent last year; now he’s up to 45.1 percent. Those improvements aren’t all from offseason skill work.

Heisman moment: Feb. 2, tearing the ball from the hands of Kansas point guard Elijah Johnson and removing all debate about whether the Cowboys should foul on purpose to protect a 3-point lead in the closing seconds at Allen Fieldhouse. Smart turned that into a layup by teammate Phil Forte, giving him a hand in 11 of the Cowboys’ 16 points in the final 2:19 of a huge road win.

Night to forget: Feb. 20, shooting 2-of-14 from the field and fouling out in overtime of a 68-67 double-OT loss to Kansas that might have cost the Cowboys a share of the Big 12 title.